"To be a weed, or not to be..."

It's funny how something can be a terrible invasive "weed" to some and a sought after plant to others. When I lived in Germany I had a terrible rampent Cotoneaster I tried my best to wipe out. When I lived in Kentucky Trumpet Vine was a monsterous all encompasing pest... but here I am in WI/Mn and I'm desperatly trying to get/grow some. I tell you it's Karma! The spirits of the Trumpet Vines I wiped out in KY have come back to haunt me!

Yes, someone actually posted recently that they wanted straggler daisy for a ground cover. Here, it is worse than crab grass or mint for taking over acres.

Yes, and people want to grow lupines in their garden, here they grow all over, especially road banks are full of them.

That's it, Evert! Rub it in!!@&$@

I was planning to start a thread myself about "worst weeds". I won't hijack your thread, Crimson, but will start a new one.

Hmmh?

I guess it just goes to show that there is no real weed classification for plants... one person's weed is another person's exotic! I guess it is another reason why we should consider carefully before we condemn a plant in the PDB. A plant that can be extricated from a garden in one climate may be well-behaved elsewhere. Of course, on the other hand, is there anywhere in the world that dandelions don't flourish!

Twisted Quote "one man's weeds are another man's flowers"??
BTW Evert, "rubbing it in" is an American euphemism for gentle taunting.

I recall a gardening programme here that showed various peoples gardens (all were amateurs). One lady was from Singapore, now living in London, had a wonderful, tiny garden that was crammed full of various plants.

When the presenter asked the lady what she thought when she first saw British flora, the lady replied that when she travelled on the train, she was amazed at the beauty of the daisies and dandelions on the embankments. She'd never seen anything like them before.

Thanks, I'm really bad with all English sayings..

Oh Baa, I remember that one! It's just so true that the only definition of a weed is a plant growing where a gardener doesn't want it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder 'n' all that......

Agree with you Weez about the particular conditions making so much difference to a plant's character. I can just visualise your rampant juicy dandelions LOL, but somewhere hot and dry would be death to them, poor wizened, shrivelled little plants
:)

Phil, I'd be pleased to see dandelions 'wizened'. Here is a photo of my burnpile in mid-June a couple years back. I was raking up twigs, leaves, etc. to burn, when Dennis decided to throw the dandelions on there. He'd been weeding them out of the lawn for hours! I didn't get around the setting the pile on fire, but several days later, the dandelions were making themselves comfy!

Some of us odd gardeners even deliberately cultivate weeds. This is what mullein (verbascum thapsus) is capable of when well-fed:

One man's weed is another man's flower! That mullein looks like a beauty to me. It will be interesting to see what comes up this spring in the new house.
I have no idea what to expect, but years to plan!
Sue
PS: The biggest problem has been SURVIVING in this house!

I had to smile when I saw that verbascum! I've tried to grow some here with little success. Too cold and wet, I guess.

Last summer I sold plants to a couple who had moved to a new house. His pretty little wife (who came from the Phillipines) was unfamiliar with our local plants and pulled them all up as weeds! As we walked around the plant tables, she kept exclaiming, "Oh, I pulled up some of those!"

Wow that mullein certainly takes the prize lupine! They are native around here and grow very well, seeding around the garden, but I've NEVER seen one that tall LOL

Oh, what a wry story Weez, what a pity, hope she's starting to recognize the plants now

What makes survival difficult in your new house shuttlebunny?
Very exciting to have a new garden!

You should have seen the road and railroadbanks in Slovakia and Hungary.. they were full of tall yellow mulleins! Sure looked great.

Lupinlover, That is a very tall mullein. They volunteer everywhere here in mu 5 acres. I leave a lot of them not because I think they are so pretty but because the birds love the seeds. They are biennial so this spring I will cut down last years stalks. Donna

They volunteer here, too, but not much. This is my favorite example of "weed" versus "garden plant". Since I share the house with my parents, the yard has become democratic. I vote "yes" for the mullein, one parent has a firm "no", the other, deciding vote: Loves it! One mullein per year stays!

If you provide a rich soil, any "weed" can become a prize-winning wildflower.

Weez, I loved the photo of the Devil's Club (correct name?)in the Garden Talk forum I would love to know more about it. Would it grow here in OH?

LL: I don't know how it would do there, since your summers are so much hotter. Here's the page I posted in the PDB:http://plantsdatabase.com/go/51534/

Starting it from seed could require acid etching, since it is said the most viable seed go through a bear first. I've had my son keeping an eye open for bear scat this fall and winter, but one day you step in it and one day you can't find it!

I always hated it when someone looked at my child and said "He is growing like a weed" since a weed is some thing that no one has found a usefulness for yet!! I correct them and say....He is growing like a flower!!...LOL

Jo

Weez, please don't make your DS go out 'bear hunting' on my account LOL. I would sure love to try to grow this, but if going through a bear is the only way to get the seeds to germinate, maybe I will try to convince our zoo to feed it to some of the captives first (after they wake up) ;D

philomel:
In the month that we've been in the house we are in (that we're in the process of purchasing):
The heat has gone out twice and The septic froze twice.
I feel like I'm camping!

Oh :( sorry to hear that shuttlebunny, hope it'll all go smoothly now!
A long time ago when I moved into my first (and only come to think of it) house I was camping too. Literally cooking on a camp stove, and we had no chairs, just blow up bed. That was really fun to roll on and off at 8 months pregnant!! But at least thank goodness it was only a British winter as we had no heating to go out LOL!

philomel: The heat has held up for 2 days in a row now! Woo Hoo! I shouldn't hijack this thread, here's the thread I started about my woes: http://davesgarden.com/t/372302/